


Heart Still Beating

by JustaTWDfangirl



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alexandria Safe Zone, Alpha Rick Grimes, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M, Omega Daryl Dixon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-10 03:50:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19491547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustaTWDfangirl/pseuds/JustaTWDfangirl
Summary: Sitting alone on the front porch of his and Rick’s house, Daryl traced the reddened bite mark behind his neck with the tips of his fingers. Slowly and lightly, because it still hurt a little every time he touched it. But it was a good kind of pain, because Daryl needed it, so much. Needed it to ground him, to let him know he belonged to someone. To Rick.





	Heart Still Beating

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos to Gilven who has taken a look at this fic and given me pieces of advice on how to make it better. <3  
> I feed on comments so if you can please leave me one, heh!  
> Any mistakes are mine>

Sitting alone on the front porch of his and Rick’s house, Daryl traced the reddened bite mark behind his neck with the tips of his fingers. Slowly and lightly, because it still hurt a little every time he touched it. But it was a good kind of pain, because Daryl needed it, so much. Needed it to ground him, to let him know he belonged to someone. To Rick. 

Last night, the Alpha had bit him, twice, in the same place, his sharp, strong teeth plunging through Daryl's skin, then followed the small, kitten-like licks like he was trying to apologize. High on the arousal coursing through his heated veins, Daryl had barely registered the pain of it all. He had been busy coaxing Rick into knotting him using his hand to scratch at his Alpha's flank and his sweetened whines. They had gotten locked tightly together after that, just like how Daryl had desperately needed. It had felt so good, like dying and then getting resurrected, like everything had been possible and he had been so content, lying there with his Alpha on top of him, who had been purring and shaking with each spurt of come he let go into Daryl's pliant body. At that moment he could pretend that God had never brought down the cruel curse on them, that he and Rick would never have to bid the last goodbye to each other. At least until death did them apart. 

But that was nothing but a pipe dream really, he thought. Not in this world, not when drinking water straight from a creak could kill you just like a walker bite could. Lucky enough for Daryl and his family, for the fishes weren't infected, as well as the animals. But he didn't know if it would change or not overtime. Nobody knew actually. Such a cruel joke. 

Alexandria was like an oasis in the middle of the desert to them. The place at first seemed surreal, and Daryl had thought there had been a wrong feel surround the community and the people living there somehow. On the first night they had slept there, Daryl couldn't get his eyes to shut even if only for a few seconds, afraid something would jump out from nowhere and harm his family at the moment he closed his eyes. So he had sat up quietly, wanting to slip out to the porch. But the worry of waking somebody up in the process had been unneeded. With a sweep around with his eyes Daryl had realized that almost nobody had been asleep, except for lil' Asskicker, who had been snoring softly, unaware of the stilled silence in the air. There had been a small glint in Abraham's eyes in the dark of the large living room, Daryl recalled. It had come down to him that they all had been waiting for something to come, not just him. 

But then the place had turned out alright. More than alright, maybe. Yet Daryl thought that it’s way too clean for his liking, though. Welcome mat and lavender-scented window cleaner and shit. It’s so clean and convenient. Sounded like an irrational griping but he had never enjoyed living in a normal place. Sleeping in a makeshift tent like at the farm? Fine. Or in a cell like in the prison? Totally worked. Hell he had even slept in the woods for many times back when he was just a kid. But all of that had made him feel much more comfortable than this house and this neighborhood ever had. Someone had even put a damn massage chair in the living room. And there’s no place to gut the games he brought back. ‘ _Give it a chance_ ’ Glenn had said to him, and Daryl had. Deanna and Reg were not a problem, Maggie had informed his pack not long after she had agreed to help the former congressman to do the paperwork. Aaron was an okay guy, if not totally trustable. And of course, they no longer had to worry about food, water or Judy’s cries like out in the roads anymore. Speaking of which, she was growing faster every day, and had lost the thin look on her that a baby shouldn’t have had. Rick’s kids needed somewhere that they could grow up properly, somewhere that could be safe to live in. Still, sometimes he thought he'd have better chances out there than in here, behind all these walls. It was freer, less chained, less dependent. He might be an Omega, but the only thing that he could be sure of himself was his survival skills. Rick's trust for him had come from that in the first place, after all. 

What he had thought when he looked at the residents here was, they’re kind of like the Woodbury people back in the prison. Light-minded in a way, clueless as to how to survive in this world, because they had still clung to the remnants of the old one. But it’s not their fault, nor the children that lived inside the safe zone. Maybe he could teach them how to fight, to hold a gun, to grind a knife into a walker’s head. To protect what they had. Like how Daryl had learned everything he could to protect his family, the only people that he had left. 

The community was fine, canned meat, pasta with tomato sauce and all, but of course, the racks needed to be refilled every once in a while. So earlier this morning, Glenn and Rosita with several armed Alexandrians had jumped on a van to go out on a run. Daryl would have been sitting on that van too, God knew how much he hated being all dolled up, but Rick had shaken his head gently and kissed Daryl so slowly, on their rumpled bedsheet, until Daryl had been on the verge of getting wet before he had tried to untangle himself from the smiling Alpha. 

“If you’re still worried about them, let me go instead. Make sure everything is alright.” Rick had whispered to him, his gentle eyes caressing the hunter’s face. 

For the first time in his life, Daryl hated that he didn't have a watch with him. He didn't know how many times he had gone in and out of the living room to take a glance at the clock. It had been hours since he'd seen the van disappeared behind the gate, and now the sun was going down, and they hadn't come back. It was unusual for the scavenging group to still be out there this late, and the anxiety nestling in the pit of Daryl's stomach was growing with each passing second. Also, his body felt hot without him knowing why. But he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. There're more important things to worry over at the moment. 

Daryl was about halfway through biting the nail off of his thumb when Maggie joined him in sitting on the front porch, waiting. Daryl knew she was worried too, but she's doing a better job hiding her jittery than Daryl was. Peering over at Maggie through his long bangs, he noticed how thin she had become, her cheekbones standing out, her wrists delicate, but her green eyes were steady, like always. She glanced at him then, before swatting the back of his right hand lightly. 

"You gotta stop that, Daryl. And I think Carl is about to pick up on it, if he hasn't already, with how close you two are." She smiled a little. Daryl grunted, but pulled his abused thumb out of his mouth, looking down his dirt-streaked shoes instead. 

"They're gonna come back, Daryl. _They are_ ." Maggie told him, her jaw setting firm and she turned away, and Daryl wanted to believe every word the Beta just said, leaning into it to get a grip of himself. The feeling of being controlled by fear was downright miserable, where he’d feel like nothing was in control and his mind would try to spiral down to the worst scenarios. He hated getting dependent, dependent on someone's safety to feel relieved. That's why he had disliked the concept of mating in the first place. But none of that mattered anymore. Rick was his mate now and Daryl wanted him _here_ , right in front of him, heart still beating. 

Maggie left the porch later on, after Daryl had patted her shoulder to give away some comfort he could offer. Two more hours went by slowly and there's still no sign of the van coming back. Daryl couldn't help but pace around the house, trying to make himself useful but failing. He kept staring at it. The clock's second hand was moving so damn _slow_ , and when it dragged to number twelve, Daryl thought quickly ' _easier to conceive my ass_ ' before barging down the porch stairs with the familiar heaviness of the crossbow across his shoulder. He's so fucking tired of waiting. Rick, Glenn and Rosita could be hurt out there and could die and Daryl wasn't about to let that happen. If he was the one to die, to get bit in a reckless moment someday maybe, it's okay, he could handle it. It's okay. But _Rick_ , his Alpha, his mate, if he's gone, Daryl didn't know how his world would keep moving after that. 

The sky was fully dark outside that Daryl had to take a short moment to adjust his view. He was leading his motorcycle down the street to the gate with a few bewildered residents looking at him and Aaron trying to talk him out of it, he didn't care, when the screeching sound of rusty iron reached his ears. Then the gate was pulled open and the lights from the car shined through Daryl's eyes and before he knew it, he was running and running, not registering the sound of the metal hitting the ground and finally pulling his Alpha into him. 

_God_ he loved Rick so much, his smile, his eyes, his tears too. Rick smelled bone-tired, his shirt damp with sweat and Daryl was so _relieved_ he couldn't speak. He vaguely heard Glenn's sigh ' _Oh Maggie_ ' and people welcoming the returners back to them. Carl came running up from behind Daryl, and he watched as the young Alpha launched himself at his father with a cry "Dad!" Daryl rubbed Carl's head and smiled at him when they separated. The kid squeezed his arm once before looking over Rick's shoulder to the van full of carton boxes. 

"Big haul, dad?" Carl teased, already running towards Rosita and the small group of people who were unloading the van. Rick watched his son go for a moment before turning and stepping closer to Daryl. The hunter wasted no time to do the same, wrapping his arm around Rick in a tight hug. Rick reached a hand out to touch his face, before he thought better of it and took it back. 

"Daryl, there're walker guts all over me. And some other things that you might not want to know." Rick chuckled, the sound rumbling low that Daryl could feel it from where his chest touched the Alpha’s. 

"You think I give a shit?" Daryl said, anger and relief making his voice tight. "You could have died." 

"People die, darling. And I will too, one day." Rick whispered, staring into his eyes. 

"No. Not you, Alpha. I can't..." _I can't stand it_. Rick pulled him in for a hug then, putting his face between Daryl's neck and shoulder, breathing him in. His body shielded Daryl's vulnerable state away from the view of the people that were gathering there. 

"From now on, we do this together Rick. Don't pull the 'Omega should stay home' shit on me, 'cause it ain't gon' work no more." 

"You know that's not what I mean right." Rick pulled back a little and Daryl almost whined from the loss of warm contact. 

"Yeah." Daryl nodded, sighing. "So we do this together, or we do nothing, 'kay? Just wait till it's my turn to go on a run." 

The Alpha let out a low chuckle. 

"Together, then," Rick told him, his eyes crinkling at the corner, and Daryl purred softly in content, knowing that his Alpha meant more than the runs. They'd never thought of it seriously, not until now. Not when they hadn't found a place safe enough to make it possible. The idea of having a pup with Rick was so pleasant that Daryl had had a hard time hiding his embarrassing purring whenever he thought about it. But now they'd arrived here, in Alexandria, and Rick must have deemed the place safe enough to trigger Daryl's first ever heat. To breed him properly like how they both wanted. 

The Alpha was about to leave and help to unload the goods when he faltered in his tracks and turned around. For a short moment, Rick's pretty blue eyes flickered with red, and he asked. "Daryl, is your scent changing?" 

"Is it?" 

"Yeah, it's-" Rick took in a long breath of air, his nostrils flaring. "sweeter." 

The heat. It has arrived, Daryl could feel it now. The chances of getting pregnant outside of heats were small, but they're there. That's why Rick had asked him to stay at home to 'rest' after last night. Being close to their newly mated Alpha helped the Omegas' heat to arrive faster. Daryl suddenly sensed a hot flare of _something_ go down his spine, spreading and spreading until he could feel the first trickle of slick start to run down his thigh. 

"Rick, _shit_ , I think..." Daryl squeezed his eyes shut, feeling his cheeks starting to burn with arousal. He knew his eyes were showing gold to match Rick's flickering red, and his Alpha smelled _so good_ . It was this special scent when Rick was aroused that he'd smell like this, pine trees and burned sweetgrass and _hunger_. 

"Yeah, I know. You're in heat, my Omega." Rick licked his lips before smiling gently at him, and Daryl's knees would have buckled under him if it wasn't for Rick's steady hold on his arm and waist. The Alpha waved off a worried-looking Carol only to see her nod in understanding before starting to walk them back to their house. “Need you Alpha.” Daryl felt like his body was on fire and Rick was the only one who could give him what he wanted, _needed_. 

"You'll be okay, darling. I'll take care of you." The Alpha promised and Daryl nodded, squirming when another trickle of slick was released. Of that, he didn't have to doubt at all. Maybe they could make this work, after all. Daryl wouldn’t dare to guarantee the result, but he sure as hell would try first. He leaned against Rick’s chest and felt his heart beat in a calming rhythm. 


End file.
